


Small Victories

by snailienz



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Brainwashing, Cheating, Child Abuse, Child Soldiers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Other, Polyamory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Recovery, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:13:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21613621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snailienz/pseuds/snailienz
Summary: Dib Membrane was eleven when an alien menace fell from the stars and threatened to destroy his world. Seven years later, he may be the only thing that can keep him safe as they run for their lives.
Relationships: Dib & Invader Skoodge, Dib/Zim (Invader Zim), Invader Skoodge/Zim
Comments: 28
Kudos: 124





	1. The End

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fic dedicated to my amazing boyfriend and it's kinda inspired by things we talk about together.
> 
> Parts will be inspired by the amazing Voxblade, who shares rp adventures with me and needs more love. uwu
> 
> Also this is gonna be my first fanfiction, so I hope it's good! Im posting it from my phone at 1am to help with the nerves.  
> \-------

Dib Membrane was eleven when alien invader stumbled into his life and turned it upside down. 

He was twelve when that alien took them across the universe and made a Florpus Hole that nearly killed them all. 

He was thirteen when Zim disappeared again, this time not because he had any sort of plan, but because the Irken had seriously gotten so caught up in a dumb TV show that he hadn’t been outside his base for days. 

At fourteen, Zim had started sitting with them at lunch because every other table had those horrible clique assholes that definitely didn’t like the Green Kid. 

Fifteen was the year that Dib went away to camp in some supposedly haunted woods only to find that Zim had followed him there, the two of them got horribly lost and stranded, and Zim had broken the silence to point out specks that looked like stars but were actually planets. 

Dib and Zim got partnered up for a science project at sixteen, and actually once they stopped bickering they did a great job. 

Seventeen was the year that Dib ducked out on his prom date to go “see what zim was up to”. Dib found him on the roof of the Gym just looking upwards like he used to do all those years ago, with a somber look in his synthetic eyes. A tossed aside corsage that he’d managed to get from the guy was unlucky enough to deal with his first time learning what romance was like. 

Dib was sure that it was a riot and would have loved to watch Zim make a fool of himself, but he avoided the ‘couple’ because something about Zim’s fake boyfriend just grated on his every last nerve. Why Keef of all people?

Dib was 18 now, and the seat behind him where the smug flamboyant alien usually sat was empty. It had been for a few days now. No one making fun of him loudly any time it suited him. No boots kicked the back of his desk. No awkwardly worded questions coming blurted out behind him after seeing a flitter of flailing arms. 

Zim had been gone almost the entire week. Usually if it was more than a day, it meant Zim was up to something, if it was more than three, it meant he had gotten his idiot self in trouble again.

It had been five days. 

Five days, 20 hours, 15 minutes since Dib had heard a peep from the Irken Invader. He cursed himself internally for counting all of that, but then another minute rolled by. 16 now. 

Dib wasn’t focused on class that day. If he had a quiz on anything tomorrow he would have to cheat. He didn't wait for the teacher to dismiss them either. He bolted right out when the bell rang.

Something was going on, and Dib had the feeling that he was about to be smack dab in the middle of it.

That night, Dib came home with a gas station bag full of energy drinks and sugary snacks and bolted right upstairs into his room. Gaz never really cared if he didnt eat with her, and Dad was rarely home on the weekdays. He would have the whole night to himself, and he intended to spend it on sifting through security camera feeds in Zim’s base that he had snatched access to. He would suffer consequences for an all nighter later, but now, he had to find an answer.

The night only left Dib with a few fleeting bits of data. Zim was acting...strange. Well, he had been since prom night. Dib had never gotten an answer out of him why he was acting that way that night, but Zim was different. 

He hadn’t tried a hostile takeover in almost a year. He didn’t record as much of his talking as he used to. He honestly had more footage of him being a pseudo-parent to Gir that he did of any scheming. 

It was the same now, just Zim fiddling with a tablet and Gir making messes Zim would inevitably clean up. There was only one bit of footage that stuck out to Dib, and the sound was corrupted.

Zim had a call of some sort that caused him to get upset, yelling at the screen in a panic. Skoodge was cowering in the kitchen, trying to not be seen. 

Zim started freaking out, trying to call whoever it was back? Then the transmission goes black and the sound is suddenly back. All you can hear is Zim screaming and pleading. 

The way Zim sounded sent a chill through Dib’s body. It wasn’t the usual type of panic. Zim was terrified.

The audio cut out abruptly. Dib sat there staring at the screen and wondering what he’d missed. It had to be just another one of Zim’s stupid escapades with someone who hated him...right? It was probably fine.

He decided he would go to investigate the base in the morning, since it was currently 4am and He was too bleary to possibly fight off any sort of attack in the event it actually was dangerous.

Zim would probably be in some sort of comical display of distress, or completely fine and act like nothing happened.

Of course he would.

***  
The next morning had Dib groggily waking up to a knock on his door. He grumbled for Gaz to get the door, but she didn’t respond. His exploration as to why was met with the answer that Gaz had her headphones on and was playing a game, which he knew to be code for “it better be world ending news”. He left her alone.

Dib pulled on his clothes and yawned when he opened the door to be met with a stocky short green face with lenses similar to Zim’s, a pastel purple hat that has HUMAN written on it in pink letters, a hawaiian shirt and shorts. Gir was clung to his arm and minimoose floated above him, looking as if he was more suited to be at an amusement park than a rich neighborhood in this horrible city. 

“Ah, good! It’s you. No false formality is in order then.” Chirped Skoodge, who genuinely seemed pleased to know he didn’t need to fake around being a human for Dib’s family. He brushed off the shirt, which Dib now noticed was stained, and not buttoned correctly. How did someone so messy always seem to be so proper at the same time?

“What is it, Skoodge?” Dib grumbled. He was so tired he forgot about the terrified screeching of his arch nemesis he had heard the night before. The softened, sad look on Skoodges face was enough to make it all come flooding back to him. Dib was sparked with interest as the gears began to turn.

“We have a problem.” the small Irken began. “Zim has been eh… uh… arrested?” He said this last bit with a sheepish grin and a nervous tone.

Dib took a minute to process that. “...WHAT DO YOU MEAN ARRESTED?!”

“Well uh...He will likely kill me for explaining this, but Zim...Isn’t actually here to invade the planet. Not officially anyway.” Skoodge began. “The tallest basically sent him here to be exiled in a way that kept him out of their antennae and well… It didn’t really work that well.”

Dib sort of zoned out after that for a moment. His whole life had been caught up in stopping Zim. He’d spent his childhood chasing down an alien who’s leaders essentially sent him here to die? He felt betrayed somehow that Zim wasn’t telling him all of this himself.

“...And that is why I need your help. You have moral investment, and the security system on that ship won’t track down your signature, since you're a rather unknown species. You could slip in and save him easily...Uh...Dib?” Skoodge leaned forward to the human anxiously.

Dib was deep in his head by the time Skoodge said his name. He hadn’t meant to, but his mind went wild with thoughts as the alien finished.  
Part of him was panicked about Zim’s whole thing being a big joke to his people, another was terrified at the looming destruction. Then, there was a spark of realization, that this could be what finally proves to earth what he’s always known...in the worst way possible.

Before he knew it, Dib was bolted back upstairs without a word. His hand both hit the back of Gaz’s door, bursting it open. The noise was enough to earn him a glare, but Dib didnt care.

He grabbed his sister by the arm and had to unjack her headphones, yelling over the fantasy music that now poured out of the speakers. “Gaz! This is serious, we have to get to Dad and—“

Gaz out her hand over Dib’s mouth. She was clearly peeved. “Dib, if this is another one of Zim’s STUPID plans, I will end you.”

She then released his mouth.

“The Irken Military is threatening to blow the planet up!! This isn’t about some stupid scheme of his! These are real space soldiers! With a big warship!”

“...And?”

“AND!? Gaz, do you want to die? Cause I sure don’t!”

“Hm….”

“There isn’t any wifi for mmos if the earth blows up.” Skoodge, who had let himself in, dusted off his shirt proudly at the observation. Gaz nodded.

“Alright fine. What do you want?”

“Can you go and activate Dad’s big fancy evacuation alarm? If we do end up, like, failing horribly, at least people will live.” Dib pleaded.

Gaz gave Dib a look that was unreadable. She almost looked like she was going to tell him to fuck off, but then she must have read how genuine his expression was. She sighed and shook her head. “Fine, what are you doing to be doing, exactly?

“....Saving Zim. I guess.” Dib groaned. This predicament amused Gaz enough to curb her grumpiness about having to leave her game. She was surely going to join back up later to be entertained by the aftermath.

They parted ways at the door, and Skoodge debriefed Dib on the plan on their way to Zim’s orbital station. Dib wasn’t a normal heat signature, had no electronic components and his energy readings weren’t high, so he was basically the wind to the security system. Furthermore, Skoodge would be soft hacking the system so he could guide Dib around so he wouldn’t end up lost on a dangerous Irken vessel.

That didn't mean this wasn’t dangerous though. Zim and Skoodge were not the same as most Irkens, he was warned. These soldiers were ruthless, and had no attachment to Dib. 

If he got caught, they would shoot first and ask questions later. Because of the danger, Gir and Minimoose would go with him as a backup. Dib tried to disagree with Gir joining them, but the alien insisted.

The two of them finally hopped the transport to Zim’s orbital and got to work. Skoodge showed Dib the map of the ship he had snagged. The ship was huge, but the brig made up most of it, which made finding Zim harder, but it made navigation of the layout simpler. Dib just had to go in, find the Invader, and then the two of them had to get out so they could plan a way to stop the attack.

Skoodge handed Dib a laser gun, and the human swallowed. These people really must be dangerous if the Irken was letting him hold a weapon around him. It felt weird, carrying an actual weapon and planning to defend his life with it. It wasn’t like the water balloon launcher or the various goofy melee weapons he’d used over the years. 

This was a tool to kill. That he was planning to use to keep himself safe from people who definitely wanted to kill him. He didn’t think even Zim has been as dangerous since they were fighting each other in middle school. He worried he might be out of practice.

The escape pod was packed before Dib could spend much time on it, and Gir was seated on his lap, bouncing with energy. Minimoose was just floating to the right of him, in the air, but he squeaked for him to move over a bit anyway. Once they launched, out among the stars, Dib took a glance down at his home world. This was for them, just like it always was.

***  
The lab was surprisingly not busy today, which was good, because Gaz didn’t have to do much to get in. Through the staff entrance like always, and down the hall she went. There were a few tall scientists messing around with weird experiments involving pizza toppings. 

Gaz paused, watching in bewilderment and interest. She could waste some time seeing what they were into, just a little bit, right?

There won’t be and wifi or mmos if the planet blows up.

Gazlene shook her head and turned back to her mission. Just set off an alarm. Easy. She could do that. Her dad kept that button...Where exactly?  
"Hey." She said abruptly to the woman scientist. The woman turned to her, glancing quizzically behind her dark frames. 

"Where does dad keep the Super Danger Evacuation Alarm at?" 

The woman blinked and then gestured down the hall to a room with a big danger sign on it.

"Cool. Thanks, June."

That was easy.

Gaz entered the room and found that the room was full of older scientist guys. She needed to distract them and get to the button. Great.

She could just like, speedrun in and slam her hand on it, but that would probably be pulled back as a false alarm before the cameras found the threat. She fiddled with her phone to check the time. This was taking too long. She wanted to get this done and get back to her game.

Wait, her phone! That was it.

She pretended to dial a number and held the phone to her ear. "Oh, hey dad." She said loudly enough to be heard. "Yeah, I'm in the SDE Alarm room. Oh? You and President man are about to make an IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT and everyone who doesn't attend is gonna get FIRED?"

The lab assistants were gawking. "Wow. Harsh dude." She added with a smirk. They all looked at each other, then at the monitors they were watching, and then at each other again. Like that, they had all bolted out the door to the meeting room.

Gaz smirked and walked right up to the alarm and pressed it. Every computer in the room started to whirr to life, showing a projection of the terrifying ship as it hovered over the Earth. Gaz stared at it for a second, seeing a tiny escape pod sneaking in. She could guess that was Dib. She should probably go make sure he didn't actually die.

As she turned, some speakers came out of the wall, and her father's voice came booming out with inappropriate calmness.

"This is the Super Danger Evacuation Alarm. The earth is in EXTREME DANGER and will need as many people evacuated as possible immediately. This is NOT A TEST. We will have cookies on the evacuation ships!"

Gaz didn't pay it any mind, and started to leave. Her new target was finding Dib and watching the show of him and Zim being morons.

A tall figure was standing outside the door, robotic arms crossed and foot tapping. Gaz froze, and looked up at her father. "Oh. Hey dad." She stated, staying completely cool as he glared down at her.

"Gaz, did you activate this alarm? It's not a toy! This better not be more of your brother's aliens nonsense!" She stared for a beat. Surprised he was really just, not going to look at the projection of the sky. 

Is this how Dib felt all the time? Like people were so intentionally stupid to stuff that was right in their faces? Like Dad would rather die than accept he was wrong about something? ... She didn't really care.

"I don't really got time to tell you why, but you should, like, look at stuff once in a while. See ya dad. Hope we don't all explode!" She was nonchalant because she expected that this would be avoided by something stupid, just like it always was. Now. Where did the Zim keep that stupid transport?

***  
Two weeks ago, Zim had decided that his next greatest plan was well overdue. Sure, he and the Dib were still bickering at skool, at the park, in the taco place Gir insisted they visit regularly, but the truth of the matter is it had grown stagnant. They needed a real battle for humanity. It had been since the human Prom that they even done anything like that.

He had been carefully plotting his newest idea on his couch, tablet in hand, as Skoodge was making some kind of snack. He remembered Skoodge calling out to him to see if he'd wanted some, and agreeing with a grunt. Gir had been rolling on the floor, like usual, and the movie on the TV was just on to occupy him enough to not be lapping the living room.

"Oh Schmoopsy! I finally have to tell you the truth!" Chimed a cheery little voice on the screen. "I l--"

The screen was cut off by an Incoming transmission. Zim hadn't heard a peep from his Tallests in years. Usually he was the one calling them. He would be ecstatic if he wasn’t so suspicious of the sudden change.

He cautiously answered the call, to see the silhouette of an Irken that he felt was familiar, but couldn’t quite make out.

"Zim." the stranger boomed. "This is the captain of brigrunner v.247. You are hereby sentenced by the noble order of control brains to surrender yourself for execution."

Zim stood up on his couch, a sudden shock of horror running through him. That couldn’t be right. "Execution?!?! What?? This must be some kind of mistake."

"There is no mistake! Your actions against the order have been judged, and you are finally to meet Justice."

The more they spoke, the more Zim panicked. No no. He was an Invader! Not a criminal! This wasn’t right at all.

"...this planet shall hereby be destroyed as potential evidence threat…"

They couldn't do this to him! He’d done so much for them. Were they so ungrateful to Zim’s might that they would toss him away over...over… He couldn’t think of a reason that didn’t make his anxiety worse.

"...and you are to be taken h--"

"LIAR! THERE IS NO WAY THE TALLEST HAVE ORDERED ME TO BE EXECUTED! YOU LIE! THIS IS A TRAP. WHO ARE YOU?!?"

"You will meet me soon enough, Zim." was all they replied, and the transmission ended.

Zim froze in horror, staring at the blank screen as it hung in darkness and silence. He was staring into his own, horrified reflection until the screen automatically started playing the sickening children's program again. 

Once the realization sunk in, he screamed in panic. Zim ran over to the screen and attempted to hail the last number, hail the tallests. Someone. Anyone. No one answered. No one responded.

Skoodge stood in the doorway of the kitchen and watched him anxiously. Zim was running all over and screeching loudly as he panicked. He had to find emergency resources, power source. He’d have to plan a diversion of Skool...Wait.

He stopped again, watching the screen in numb terror. He had so much of earth in his life now. It felt...nauseating for it all to be gone in an instant. They’d destroy it if he ran. The skool, the base, Dib’s stupid ugly head.

He’d have no mission to return to. No planet to call his own. He’d be alone.

Zim would regret his hesitation.

The base was busted open but two larger robot soldiers and a small irken who rode in on a hover disc. Despite his screams in protest, the alien was subdued and dragged away.

***  
“Invader ZIM.” The same familiar, deep rumble came out from the shadows as Zim stood there with shackles on his wrists and a lock over his pak. Two stern looking soldiers at his sides, holding him up to face the Brigrunner’s Captain.

“Or should I say, Service Drone Zim...no. Defective.” The red of the Captain’s eyes flickered out of the Darkness. “You never were any good at that job either, you pathetic little runt.”

Zim registered that voice now, the way he said that. “...You? You’re a Brigrunner Captain now?!”

“Eh? Oh, right, damn lighting in here isn’t fixed yet.” The man stepped closer, and the face of Sizzlor came into view.

“The Tallests asked me to come after you because so far I’ve been the only one capable of doing it right. Now you’ll meet your end at the hands of the filthy beast we had to lock up because of you.”

“You’re a liar! You’re just jealous that I got my mission. It isn’t Zim’s fault getting this position took you so--oof.” Zim’s antagonizing was cut short by one of the guards punching him in the stomach.

“Shut up and respect your betters, Defective.”

The weight of that word choked Zim. His mind flicked back to control brains holding him in the air and images flashing on a screen that all blurred together but felt like pain to focus on.

“I’m going to love watching that stupid false bravado of yours drain out of you when we destroy your pathetic alien rock.” Sizzlor smirked as he looked down on Zim.

“Take him to his cell.”

“YES, BRIG-LORD.” The guards at his side jerked him off the ground so all he could do was kick helplessly as he was dragged out of the cockpit and into the brig.

Zim’s head met the metal of the back wall as he was thrown into the cell, and he fell face first onto the equally hard floor. He struggled in his bonds, face battered and bruised, to sit up. Just in time for him to see the red light of the barrier go up and the guards walking away. 

“WAIT, WAIT! THIS HAS TO BE A MISTAKE. I’M..I’M AN INVADER. I--” But they were gone.

He looked out into the hall and saw the large window that got him a great view of the planet. It was going to be blown apart completely. No takeover. No victory. Just dust. Disgrace.

This just couldn’t be right. It had to be a big mistake. How could any of this horrible ordeal be happening to him? He wasn’t defective!

He had to get out of here.

Looking around for any kind of opening, Zim forced himself onto his feet. He searched for a vent, a hole, a place to wriggle under to no avail. He was trapped, cornered in this tiny cage. His pak was useless with the lock on it, and his hands were still bound.

The Irken backed up until the cool metallic tink behind him alerted him there was no more space, and slid down to the floor. The was hopeless. He didn’t have an escape plan, no resources, nothing.

His mission would be destroyed…and he had no means to stop it.

Zim sat there for hours thinking of ways he could stop this if only he could escape. He had everything else mapped out, but not a way out. He wished he would have run to barter for the Dib-human’s aide instead of panicking. That would have been less horrible than this.

Tink.

He just had to think. He didn’t want to give up.

Thunk.

His mission was at stake! His only plan to-

Tink!!--to--ThunkTinkTWANG! Oh what on Irk was that awful noise??

The Irken made his way towards the front of the cell to find a familiar soft, hairy alien brutishly hammering away at the control panel for the cage with a broken robot part from some metallic guard that ran the perimiter.

"...Dib?! What are you doing here??? This is an Irken Brigrunner! They'll kill you, you stupid human."

"I'm not." He hit harder. "Letting them take you."

"......Oh eh...uh...this is ...just protocol. Yeah. That's all this is. Totally fine. You can go home now."

"Zim, Skoodge already told me everything. You don't have to lie."

"He WHAT?!"

Dib didn't respond. He seemed headstrong determined to smash that lock open.

"...You know you could just hit it at the wires connecting it."

Dib stopped and glared at Zim for a second. The irken chuckled as the human boy rolled his eyes dramatically and smashed the wires. The barrier came down.

“You could take this more seriously, you know?! The whole planet is in danger because you’re too damn proud to explain the truth to people.”

Zim jumped from his containment gleefully, bruised face and all. He was free! This meant the demise of Sizzlor’s plot to destroy his mission was doomed. He could easily do it now.

“Yes, yes, don’t worry so much! Zim had a plan all along, silly human.”

“Yeah? Was it hiding in the dark and wishing you could get out?”

“...That was just the planning stages.”

“Uhuh. Listen, let’s just get moving so we can get out of here, and then find a way to stop them from blowing up the planet!” Dib seemed agitated, and almost afraid. This was a little more intensity than he was used to dealing with. Zim was mighty, but he was not planning to actually destroy the planet to tiny bits.

He could not rule over dust.

“Very well, Human, find me a way to remove these binds! I will need my Pak to escape this ship.”

Luckily, one of the robot guards had a built in part that unlocked things, and Dib had taken the liberty to remove it when they’d blown it up. Zim was free of his bonds, and they were off down the hall in an instant.

“Okay Dib, we’re ready to send a second pod to come and pick you guys up if you have to exit a different way.” Skoodge came in on Dib’s communicator.

“We? Who’s we?” Dib questioned as the two of them paused to plan the way out.

“Hey, nerd.” Gaz’s teasing voice came over the line. “I got your button pressed. Dad kinda caught me though, so who knows how that went.”

“Ugh, of course he doesn’t care or believe us! It’s always up to me to make sure space doesn’t destroy us all.” Dib groaned.

“Worry not, Dib-fool, the amazing and almighty future overlord of Earth has a Pl--” Zim’s tone had been so sure, a hand adjusting his glove, one eye opened. He was so clearly sure he was fine, until a noise interrupted him.

It was a horrible whirr that filled the whole hallway and shook the floor beneath them. A blinding pink light flew into view and blinded them both, fading out to reveal a mess of floating rock. The earth lay scattered in the void, nothing inside it’s orbit but debris and likely corpses.

The Earth was gone.


	2. Aftershock

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art is by me! Please feel free to check my art stuff too. Same username everywhere! owo
> 
> Also special thanks to my friends Jen and Random for betaing, and Voxblade for helping me do some plotting things.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading and being supportive!

  
  


The sound of the explosion rang through his ears like a terrifying echo of all of the voices he had just watched be blown apart. Dib’s mouth was agape,and his hands were shaking. The planet was gone. It was just gone?! What the hell?

He didn’t register stepping closer to the window and leaning into it until his hands hit glass. He felt numb and out of touch with reality. This could NOT be happening.

“...Dad?” The soft broken voice of his sister came over the communication device. He felt his stomach drop. Reality hit him like a brick to the face. He wasn’t daydreaming. Earth was gone.

Zim was strangely quiet behind him. Like the interruption had stolen all the air in his body. He almost wished Zim were gloating. Dib wasn’t fond of Zim’s silence. It felt unnatural.

Dib felt his legs want to give out from under him and his eyes well up with tears. His home, his dad, the kids from school, all of it was just gone before they could do anything. He couldn’t believe this.

“GET DOWN!” Zim’s voice came seconds before a clawed hand gripped the back of his head and shoved him into a crouch as a laser blast shot past them. The hallway was suddenly teeming with the robot guards, Gir’s tiny robot body flying away from them on the back of his fellow minion.

"WHEEEEEHOOOO~!!" the robot was oblivious to the horror that had just taken place. He just flew up to them and did a circle around them both, happy to be back with his master, probably. 

Dib still felt shaken and numb, he couldn’t process what was happening. Before he knew it, Zim had snatched him up and onto his back with his pak legs. They went flying down the hallway narrowly avoiding being shot. All Dib could do was scream in panic as they ran.

“COMPUTER! Take the information Skoodge has collected on the ship and get me a map, and shut down the cameras NOW!” The Irken was moving and thinking faster than Dib had ever seen him. Something was different about Zim. He looked so serious.

They rounded a corner and Dib found himself shoved into the air and stuffed inside a vent. The darkness felt like it was thick, cut only by the little slits of light that settled across Zim’s face.

Dib opened his mouth to speak, but before he could make a noise, a gloved claw shoved itself over his mouth. He glanced up at Zim as he used his other hand to signal him to be quiet.

Beneath the grate, a robot whirred by them, creating a tension in the silence. Dib felt fear twist up inside him. His heart was going to beat out of his chest.These things really wanted them dead. He didn’t even breathe as he heard it scuttle out of the hallway.

The silence lingered for a second, Zim’s eyes and pak giving off a soft pink glow as he gazed down at the vent. His antennae moved, straining to pick up every sound.

Dib felt his face growing warm with the prolonged contact of Zim's hand to his mouth. Since when was Zim so grabby, anyway? He moved a hand forward to pull it away so he could chide him for treating him like a child.

"MARY! MASTER!! WE MISSEDED YOUU!” the shrill chirp cracked through the silence. Gir had somehow made it into the vent and was curled right beneath Dib’s chin, squeezing tight to minimoose. The noise caused Dib to jolt, banging his head against the top of the cramped space.

Zim winced at the noise, and it took him a second to reclaim himself from the surprise. He frisked at his antennae in protest.

“Gir!” The little alien hissed. “Be quiet!” 

With childish innocence, the robot responded only slightly less loud. “Whhhyyy?”

Zim raised a finger and sucked in breath to berate the robot for continuing to be loud. He looked livid, and was likely to make more of a racket with both of them yelling.

Dib cleared his throat, voice still cracking despite his efforts. “Uh...we...we’re playing hide and seek, Gir, do you think you can b-be really quiet so we can win?”

Gir’s synthetic mouth made a little “oh” shape and he giggled softly and settled into his space.

Dib sighed quietly in relief. Then his eyes met Zim’s, who looked astonished and almost offended that Dib could talk child logic to his minion. His finger wilted back down and he scoffed.

“...Okay. Let’s move.” Zim popped out of the vent and ducked into a door in the hall. 

If it weren't for how shell shocked he was, Dib would protest being ordered around like a subordinate. He was still mad at him, after all.

Dib awkwardly stumbled his way down and followed, instead. They didn't have time to argue right now anyway.

***

Gaz was staring out the window of Zim’s orbital station at the rubble of her destroyed planet. Her usually squinted eyes were wide, but other than that she held no expression. The thing giving her away was that she was decidedly not blinking as much as she could, because her eyes were watering.

Skoodge watched her periodically as he communicated with the others. Sending maps of the ship, explaining out locations. He and Zim had gone into some sort of weird soldier mode, turning panic into teamwork. Yet, every now and then, He’d glance over at her. She could feel it burning into her every time he did it.

She’d left her Dad there. Her only family besides Dib. That floating mass of debris and smoke was her home. All of her games, all of her online friends she never met in real life, all of them were gone. It was such a horrible thing to see, but...

She weirdly didn’t feel very much. It was like a hazy dream state of not registering the situation for what it was. Maybe that was a good thing. She knew for a fact that Dib was going to be a whiny, emotional wreck about this. She didn’t really have the energy to deal with that and her own moping.

Besides, she didn’t know if Dad had really not listened to her. Maybe she had gotten him to look at least. Maybe some of the planet was flying into space on some Membrane-shaped rocket and eating space cookies.

Yeah, of course. He would have looked. It’s not a problem. He could be out there somewhere.

Skoodge was looking again. Was he always so nosy?

“Uh...Gaz?” He muttered it like he was trying not to make too much noise and startle her.

“What?” Her gaze hit him like daggers, and Skoodge flinched. Some military operative.

“...Uh...You’re...l-leaking.” He gestured sheepishly to his cheeks.

Gaz blinked suddenly and touched her face to feel wetness that had forcibly left her eyes in spite of herself. She scrubbed it dry.

“Don’t worry about it. What are we doing to get them outta there?”

***

Zim had been chatting back and forth with Skoodge for a while. The plan was simple, they would divert the crew by making the cameras have them show up at random about the ship, scattering and confusing the enemy. Genius! Zim was so glad he thought of it.

Then they’d find an escape route that would suit them best. The pod was of no use, apparently a robot guard had destroyed it a while ago whilst chasing Gir. One of the pods left on the orbital would have to come pick them up.

Of course, Zim had something planned that he wasn’t going to tell Skoodge. Whenever Zim had a brilliant, amazing idea that was maybe incredibly dangerous, he always got all nervous and worried. He’d nag him to be less reckless. Stupid Skoodge! What did he care?

Zim didn’t really know why Skoodge was helping him, actually. He wasn’t an exile or a fugitive, and this operation was definitely going to be an end to the facade that he was an Invader. Skoodge was throwing his status away.

Zim shoved the thought aside and finished up discussion with Skoodge. Then his eyes fell to the human. He was slumped against the wall, cradling himself and spacing out. The events had taken their toll on him, clearly.

It annoyed Zim to see him behaving like this. He didn’t know how to react. He couldn’t very well be comforting or coddling him. That just wasn’t in their dynamic.

“We need to get moving. They’ll figure out our plan soon enough and we’ll need space suits to meet with the escape pod.” Zim ordered, scrutinizing Dib’s reaction.

“Yeah. Okay.” Dib replied absently. He barely made a move to stand up.

Zim became absolutely furious now. How dare his human give up on him.

“Filthy human!” Zim launched forward and grabbed his enemy around the collar of his stupid jacket and shook him. “Do you want to die?!”

“Zim, ow, holy shit! Quit it!” He yelped, trying to pull his hands away.

“ANSWER ZIM! DO YOU??” Zim insisted, shaking again, a bit gentler.

“I...Uh...no!”

“Say it!”

“Wha—Zim this is—!”

“Demonstrate to me that you’re ready to handle this!”

“I’m NOT gonna die!”

“GOOD. YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO. ONLY THE AMAZING ZIM CAN END YOUR MISERABLE HUMAN LIFE. GET YOURSELF TOGETHER AND LET US AVENGE ZIM’S MISSION AND YOUR PITIFUL PLANET.”

Dib had been pushed back into the wall by Zim’s sheer volume and the jabs of his pointing finger by the time he had finished. He gawked at him, speechless for a second. It looked like he was processing what Zim had said.

“Are you with me or not?” Zim added, to break the silence. He attempted a human gesture, holding out his hand for Dib to take it.

“...I’m with you.” Dib grabbed his hand and they shook on it.

Zim whipped around on his heels, flicking a gloved finger into the air. “Let’s move!”

The two of them headed down along the now empty hallway. Zim found his way around the map quickly, and often had to snatch Dib to keep him close. They found themselves in the room with the space suits, suited up, and then Zim took a route different to what Skoodge had planned for them.

They weren't going to a port. They'd just be chased.

They were going to the cockpit.

***

Skoodge was multitasking. Keeping up with zim's position and the cameras so that the guards were running in circles not finding them. They'd eventually catch on and start ignoring the feeds, and Zim and Dib would be in danger. He had to keep it up for as long as he possibly could.

His companion was watching intently, her fingers twitching. She looked tense, annoyed. He was trying to not pay it any mind, but it was obvious.

On top of that, Skoodge was anxious. He was so sure they’d be able to get this done without any casualties, but here they were. They were hovering over a mass of broken planet and what had to be thousands of bodies upon it. Chaos.

He had to make sure they got out alive.

He had to make sure Zim got out alive.

Gaz grunted, and Skoodge shot her a glare. “What?” He said, continuing to work.

“You...Let me do it.” She snapped.

Skoodge looked at her like she was crazy. “What?! No! This isn’t a game, Gaz it-”   
  


“I could keep them away better! Just lemme have the controls.”

“No! Why would I--”

“Just. Give it!” Gaz’s hands gripped onto the front of his uniform and tugged him away from the console so she could place herself there. The action startled Skoodge enough for him to stumble to the ground.

Sitting on the floor, he watched her, and then the screen. Suddenly the guards weren’t being run in circles, but in a snakelike pattern. He was silent as he watched, but got back on his feet to gawk at the human’s work.

“Huh. Alright you got this.” He was surprised how natural she was at this.

She scoffed. “It’s the same thing as the game I was playing earlier only lower graphics. I can lead them around for hours if I gotta.”

“...Alrighty.” He rolled his eyes at her sass. These humans sure were fond of dismissing them, weren’t they?

Skoodge glanced over at the actual camera feed on Zim and Dib. He was worried about Zim, really. This was gonna be the first time he literally had no choice but to face the facts. There wasn’t gonna be a way out of being a miserable exiled fugitive now.

This was really a moment Skoodge had been hoping for. He just hoped it would come in less dire consequences.

He watched as they turned down the corridor to— “Wait, where are they going?!”

Gaz looked at him and raised a brow.

“COMPUTER. DISCONNECT CAMERA OVERRIDE.”

“Excuse me?!” Skoodge sputtered before the camera went blank and Gaz lost control of all of it.

Zim only responded with one thing, and it wasn’t answers. “Get the pod to the area in front of the window and be ready.”

“Ready for WHAT!?” Skoodge demanded. He got only silence in response.

Gaz looked at him. “Well?”

“What?”

“Go get a pod ready, stupid!”

Skoodge sighed in exasperation and ran off to get the pod prepared. Zim better not die after all this. He was not gonna be exiled alone.

***

Dib looked on in shock and disbelief as Zim hung up the communicator. “What are you doing, Zim?! They’re gonna catch us!”

Zim didn’t answer. God he was so frustrating! Dib hurried behind him into the control room and down towards the area of the ship where transmissions were projected.

"Seriously, Zim! What the hell are you trying to do, get us killed?!" Dib snapped. He wasn't going to be ignored like this.

"It's not a concern Dib. All part of Zim's amazing plan!" Zim finally gave him some recognition.

"That's not an answer!" Dib complained. "And it's not part of the plan to corner ourselves and get caught! We need to get out of here!"

"We will get out of here. I told you! I have a plan!!!"

"Care to clue me in here?! I'm literally at a loss as to how luring them to a place with no openings is gonna help!!!" Dib was getting angry now. It felt like talking to a brick wall.

Zim opened his mouth to reply, but just then the doors opened and the crew filed in, guns raised. Zim and Dib were cornered, trapped.

If Dib wasn't so outraged, he'd be terrified. The soldiers all had guns that were much, much bigger than his dinky little thing, and wow, Sizzlor was a huge beast of an Irken. 

He looked taller than the present Tallests if he was remembering right. Or maybe it was just the fact of being face to face with him. He towered over even Dib's height. Zim was literally no comparison.

Even still, the tiny invader-- exile? Dib wasn't clear anymore-- stood proud and unafraid on top of the console as the large man towered over him menacingly.

"It's over, Zim! You and your little pet alien filth are going to be executed right here, right now!" Sizzlor's grating voice boomed. Dib felt the fear overwhelming the anger now. Was he really about to die?

Zim had an odd look on his face. He really had been planning something. Dib didn't know what it was, but Zim had calculated this outcome.

"You don't scare me, Frylord. Your greasy death adventure ends now." He was so confident, so sure. Dib almost believed that they would be okay when he looked at Zim's expression.

"Any last words?" The Irken tossed in, tilting his head to the side.

Sizzlor blinked hard, as if at a loss. Then there was a soft chuckle that came out of him. Soon, he as laughing uproariously. He was hysterical for a few seconds. 

Perhaps a few seconds too long.

It was kind of getting awkward now.

"You idiot. We've got the entire crew surrounding you! What are you going to do?" The man snorted.

"Oh I was thinking maybe I would do...THIS!!" Zim pointed a finger dramatically in the air. 

Nothing happened.

He cleared his throat. "THIS!!!" he said, thrusting a finger into the air.

Again, nothing happened.

"Uhhh...Zim? We really need to do something." Dib muttered anxiously.

"Gir!" Zim hissed, and the tiny robot looked over at him. "That's the signal."

"Oooohhh! Yeh!"

Zim cleared his throat one last time and threw in one last "THIS!!!" the finger pointed up higher than ever.

This time, Gir let out a loud excited yell and jumped onto minimoose's back. The tiny moose swooped up into the air with him, and transformed into its weapon mode. With a nyeh, the laser from his insides flushed a large gaping hole into the front panel of the ship, and the air in the ship began to rush out violently.

Dib let out a yelp of surprise as he, Zim, and the entire crew were jerked out of the ship. There was suddenly no air around him, and he was desperately holding his breath as he spun into space. He was going to kill Zim, granted they both survived.

Spiraling through the stars, Dib struggled to keep every last second of breath. He could feel himself growing light headed, darkness closing in on his eyes. He couldn't hold anymore.

He felt pain, choking, and desperately flailed on instinct.

Then suddenly, he could breathe again.

Once the shock wore off, he registered the long, spindly metallic limbs wrapped around his waist, and the alien that was now spinning slowly through the stars with him. Zim had caught him. He'd turned on his helmet.

Dib panted and held on tight to the pak leg he'd been gifted. He was terrifed, they were floating into space, but he was alive.

In the emptiness, the limp, spacesuit-free aliens were floating. Zim had gotten all of them at once. The threat was gone, and Dib was honestly amazed.

He was still angry, mind you. He almost died also. But that was really pretty impressive. It's a lucky thing he couldn't stop his own heavy breathing. He would not have been able to stop himself from blurting all this out loud.

They lingered there in the air for a few minutes, staring out over the collective carnage in complete silence. Dib could finally breathe normally again about the time Skoodge swung by with the escape pod and snatched them up.


	3. Scavengers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In between building their new way of living and arguing about their feelings, the crew encounter a dangerous (old) new enemy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy your feels trip. It's gonna be a ride. uwu
> 
> Special thanks to my dear friends for reading it over, especially Summer and Vox bc they're amazing.
> 
> Also I'm gonna be changing the tags and rating on this soon. I wasn't sure about nsfw content but like. I wanna write it so. shrug.

“My Tallests! We have received a distress signal from the ship that was sent to retrieve the criminals inhabiting planet Earth. It seems to be an automatic response due to hull trauma.” The Navigator looked up into two sets of displeased eyes, and the response seem to set him back a bit.

Purple held a stern disgusted glare as Red began to think. “Hmm, seems like this is going to be just as impossible as it always is.” 

He hovered over to the console and tapped his chin. “We’re going to need someone who has skill at dealing with Zim who won’t underestimate how chaotically stupid he is...but who?"

“Ooh! Oohoohooh! I got it! I know who!” Purple chirped up suddenly flailing his arms in excitement.

The whole ship seemed to look at him in surprise. “Wait… You have a plan?” Red seemed just as shocked as everyone else when he spoke."

“Yep, I know I was surprised as you were… Anyway! Here--” The tall purple irken hovered over to the console quickly and tapped in a signal to hail. “This one is just desperate and stupid enough to go after that little maniac!”

The screen flickered to life, casting a purple glow over the room. When Red turned tl to take in they're newest patsy, his expression grew into a satisfied smirk. Purple clasped his hands together in delight as the voice came over the speakers.

“My tallests?! To what do I owe this honor?”

***

Dib was seated backwards on a chair watching as Skoodge worked on Zim’s pak. Apparently, some part of their pak had several functions that included tracking them down, and it had to be removed. He watched and Zim tensed and resisted the urge to smack him away.

“It will make us need to eat and sleep, and we’ll have to adjust to heightened emotional response, but after a while we should be able to function normally without it.” Skoodge had explained. 

Zim had been hesitant, almost disgusted at the thought of anyone else touching his pak, but Skoodge eventually argued him into accepting the change being immediate. If they didn’t fall off the radar, they’d be sitting ducks.

The computer had stressed that this action was highly illegal, but, as Dib would recall “also deadly necessary if you’re to survive”.

Since when did computer ai have need to worry about their masters? It made him wonder if maybe the computer was considered another form of Irken. He’d have to take time to make notes about it later.

After Skoodge finished working on Zim’s inhibitor drive, Zim had to do the same to him. They’d both agreed that the other two watch the procedure, after MUCH arguing, because in the event one of them was missing or dead, they’d need someone who knew how the mechanical part of them worked.

Dib was fascinated by what he saw. That tiny metal casing seemed to have an endless amount of parts and intricacies. He was forced to keep his distance from Zim, because the tiny alien didn’t take kindly to this idea in the first place, but Skoodge was fine with explaining the details. 

The whole procedure became like medical training for Dib. He wondered if Skoodge had previously been a doctor before becoming an invader.

“We don’t really know how much an Irken body needs of food and sleep to survive without the help of this thing, since taking it out is illegal.” Skoodge explained once he was done. “We’re all going to be learning on the go.”

“We should probably scavenge as much resources from the surrounding area as we can before we leave.” He added, and the pit of Dibs stomach sunk.

He had been pretending he didn’t remember about earth. He didn’t even want to look at it again. Are they saying they’re going to raid the remains of his dead planet?

“Sounds good. I’d like to have a damn bed if we can find one.” Gaz said, not looking up from the computer where she was using the orbital cameras to search for different things. How could she be so calm?

Zim and Dib hadn’t spoken much to each other since they got back on the orbital. Zim had only spoken enough to argue with Skoodge about the pak, and when this new topic came up, he barely made any noise about it at all. He didn’t seem to emote much, regardless of the fact that this thing was meant to make him more emotional.

Dib did not like Zim this way at all. He was much less scary when he actually talked. Silence made him seem a lot like the cold machine that he always boasted about being.

“We’ll mostly be going out for like...organic materials, and things we can use to fix the ship? I really dont think hauling a bed up here is neccess—“ Skoodge began, which earned him a sharp glare from Gaz.

“Listen, smudge or whatever your name is, if I'm going to spend forever stuck with you idiots i’m going to have a bed to sleep in!” She snapped, a harsh scowl crawling over her face.

“Uh...sure alright, if we can find something.” Skoodge replied nervously.

“Then the Dib will remain here, and assist Zim in taking care of the repairs.” Dib’s head whipped around at the sound of Zim’s voice. It should have been comforting to hear he was talking again, but the tone gave off this sense of unease.

“Hold on a second, you want me to stay here while your friend takes my little sister off to raid my exploded planet?!?” Dib wasn’t happy at all with this plan. He should be to one to see his sister through this, not some alien dude she barely knew. What if they found something awful?

Okay, actually, Gaz would probably be fine, but he still didn’t like it.

“This is my planet! My home! I should be going down there. Why would you even want me up here?”

Zim didn’t seem too amused by Dib’s outburst. He didn’t seem like he cared much about this situation at all actually. “Yes because sending the two of you alone is such a brilliant idea. Someone has to assist with the ship, stupid!”

“If I’m so stupid why do you want me up here?” Dib snapped back.

“If you were smart you’d know why you’re staying!”

“How am I supposed to know things you won’t even explain?!”

“How are you supposed to go if they already left?” Zim smirked, and Dib looked up, eyes darting around for any sign of Skoodge and Gaz. Apparently they’d taken the argument heating up as an opportunity to ditch them.

Dib let out an exasperated sigh and out his head in his hands. This was really his life now, huh?

“Fine, just tell me what we’re doing, I guess.”

***

Skoodge had gifted Gaz with an odd device that worked like a gun. When fired, it would capture the target inside a small container, then shrink it down for transport. The tool was useful for the task at hand, since she wanted items that were all way too big to be carried out in the tiny ship.

Skoodge was more interested in like, essentials. Food, water, plant life samples that were still trying to survive the harsh conditions of the lack of atmosphere. He was so business about everything. It grated on her nerves a little.

Earth was in pieces, about 8 of them were large enough that when they landed on the surface it almost felt like nothing was wrong with the planet save the lack of breathable air and low gravity. Fortunate, because this gave Gaz plenty of cool stuff to grab that could be used to make the ship into something livable.

Gaz felt glass crunch under her feet as she stepped into a store full of her Dad’s merchandise. Electronics of all sorts. Some updated membraclets with no Irken tampering, a few supertoasters, even a couple of lamps shaped like him still remained.

Her eyes lit up when she spied a game case full and undamaged past a pile of rubble. She used the low gravity of bound over the large overturned shelf and then once more to land in front of the case. She busted it open, and began shrinking various items to secure her entertainment.

In the silence of the ruins, Gaz rifled through garbage games. A gameslave two that was used, angry monkey the game, angry monkey the movie the game, moospy shmoops galore… She scoffed and tossed them aside.

CRASH

Gaz froze. That noise sounded like it was the other end of the store. She turned on the device and let it warm up, the soft whirr it gave ringing in the silence. If someone or something was watching here, it was about to spend it's last breathing moments in a capsule.

“....Gaz?” The girl jolted around, shrinker pointed directly at Skoodge’s head. He stared at her, terrified he was going to be shrunk until she dropped the gun.

“Don’t sneak up on me, weirdo.”

“We should get going. They probably will need some of the supplies I gathered to finish the ship anyway.” He stated curtly. 

Gaz looked in the direction of the noise for a few seconds. It was probably just rubble shifting. There was literally no way one of those alien guys survived being thrown into space. It was probably fine.

“Sure, let’s go. I’m flying back.”

Skoodge blinked at her as she passed him. “...Wait what?”

***

Zim and Dib weren't talking. Not that they had some kind of heated discussion that caused them to refuse to speak, but because Zim just wasn't open to saying more than he had to. It made things feel uneasy. Tense.

Zim was always very talkative, even when no one was listening to him. Dib recalled being able to hear his effortless and proud laughter echoing well across the school, despite the only one beside Dib who listened to it would be Keef, and after prom, they had made a pact not to talk about Keef anymore.

That might have been the last time Dib saw Zim this quiet. That night on the roof when his head was twirling on spiked punch and he was thinking outlandish things because emotions were high.

Zim had that same expression that night too. The one that looked like he was a wounded animal on the mend that was trying to hide it from a stalking predator.

Dib kept getting lost in the memory of wanting to throw himself forward and do something to comfort his nemesis and rejecting the impulse.

Somehow he wanted to do it again.

But no, Dib was annoyed more than anything. He couldn't get more out of Zim than yes or no answers, and when it was something else, it was an order for some tool or an action they needed to complete.

"Hand me that twisty-twirly dohickey!"

"You mean a wrench?"

"DO NOT QUESTION ME! JUST GIVE!"

Dib huffed and roughly handed over the tool requested.

He thought back to the last six years and wondered just how long Zim had known for sure his leaders didn't care about his mission. How long had he known he didn't need to be an invader? He could have just existed on earth peacefully. All this time.

It stung. Dib felt lied to. He also felt stupid for thinking someone who was as much of a disaster as Zim would be tasked with world domination.

Especially since he was so clearly suited to settle in there anyway. Dib wondered if Zim had been more accepting of reality if they'd have been fr--

No! Wait! He was angry. He didn't like Zim right now and he didn't need to feel bad for him or contemplate what ifs. Zim was a selfish jerk who lied to him. 

And what was with Zim making him stay behind?! He was clearly capable of handling a tough situation! He was handling it now just fine. Just cause he was in shock a little back there doesn’t mean he needed to be watched.

He should be down there, taking care of his sister as they sift through the remains of their own society. What if she found their house? What if she found Dad? She could act tough all she wanted. Dib knew that would wreck her.

They continued to work until it felt like Dib’s fingers were numb. The only reason they stopped was because Skoodge and Gaz came back, a pod full of tiny capsules that were filled with “necessities”.

After what seemed like hours, the four of them had beds, there was a game system hooked up in the back room. They had kitchen appliances hooked up and the halls were decorated with Vampire Piggy Hunter swag.

The nightly meal was a meeting of three. Zim shoved his food into his face and announced he was going back to work on the hull. Skoodge looked after him, clearly concerned, but allowed it.

Gaz and Skoodge eventually migrated to their rooms, but Dib passed out on the couch. The reruns of mysterious mysteries he turned on after they left comforted him into a sleep.

***

Zim stretched and looked over at the nearest console: 9:30am earth time. He'd been all night. He should probably look into taking a break from it. Just a few minutes on this console chair whilst waiting for someone to wake up.

A soft yawn of a familiar tone caused him to perk his antennae up. He swiveled around and stopped himself abruptly at the sight of a sleepy, disheveled Dib.

Zim's eyes lingered over the bit of hair that had betrayed it's typically slicked back appearance, the sleep shirt that was tugged to one side, revealing more neck and shoulder than was really necessary, the slightest hint of scars there. The human looked vulnerable like this. He wished he knew what about it fascinated him so.

"Are you seriously still up?" The boy tilted his head. "I thought you guys were going to need sleep after you removed that thing." He took a seat right beside the irken.

Dib had brought with him the offering of a bowl of cereal, the most sugary they could have found, and Zim took it. He'd barely eaten the night before, and the smell was enough to remind him.

"This hull needs real hours of work we do not have. I can sleep when we are out of this galaxy." Zim really didn't look forward to sleeping. He'd much sooner take his chances than have to sleep, but Skoodge had insisted.

Dib sighed, and stuffed more cereal in his mouth. "Whatever. Just don't die after all the shit I had to go through to make sure you didn't."

Zim was about to retort, but he paused. The coding in his pak thought ahead to the probable response, and his probable emotional reaction sans an inhibitor. He didn't like that he knew what would sting the worst.

He liked even less that he knew the Dib would bring it up.

Zim had been dodging that conversation since they got back here. He didn't want to discuss his situation with anyone, let alone the Dib human.

"...So. I guess I'm stuck up here with you again, right? I was thinking we could at least...try to be--" Dib began, but a clawed hand cut him off.

"The Dib will be going to Earth to find more human materials."

"Wh-Okay?! But we should still talk about something. I need to--"

"There is nothing to talk about."

"Yes there is! Man, Zim, can you just listen to me for a few minutes?"

"I know what you are going to say. I do not need to listen to it."

Dib responded with the most indignant and frustrated glare he'd given Zim in a long time. If this had been an intended reaction, Zim would be cackling at his victory, but the tone of the conversation made him feel cold and uncomfortable.

"Fine. I'll leave you the fuck alone then I guess." Dib snapped, grabbing up his bowl and stomping off. Zim just watched him go, shoving down any urge to go after him.

***

“...And then he just tells me he ‘Doesn’t wanna hear it’! Can you believe the nerve of that guy?!” Dib had been relaying the interaction of the morning over the flight into wreckage. “My whole dang planet is destroyed while saving his selfish alien butt and he doesn’t care enough to talk to me about it?! How does he even know what I was going to say? Huh?”

Skoodge had been patient in listening to his companion complain. Far be it from him to say that Zim was easy to deal with. He knew better. It was probably nice for Dib to get it off his chest.

“I just wish he would act like any of this matters to him, you know?” Skoodge just gently nodded in response. “You at least seem to act like you understand how like, heavy this is for us. You’ve been TALKING at least. Zim won’t even say more than short answers.”

Skoodge had to agree with him there. Zim had been acting in a manner that was most concerning since they got the inhibitors removed. He only had a few vague ideas as to why his comrade would be so solemn and shut down, and none of them were pleasant or his issues to be explaining to Dib.

Dib leaned back in his chair and groaned. “It’s like he just doesn’t feel anything about this at all.”

Skoodge felt a twinge in the core of his chest, one that usually stopped short was was manageable. It wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling, but it was more intense. Something about that wording set off a fire inside and Skooge felt so inclined by the feeling he had to finally speak.

“You know.” He tried to hide his annoyance, but it clearly came out, he took a pause to regain control over himself before speaking again.

“I think you’re analyzing Zim too much like a human.” He said finally, a softness to his voice. He felt bad for getting so riled up. It was almost embarrassing, he was doing exactly what Dib was doing, expecting him to realize how an Irken would think, and getting mad when he didn't. 

“What do you mean?” Dib asked.

“We feel things. Just normally not this strongly.” He explained. “Removing the inhibitor is a greater sacrifice than you realize it is. We’re forced to feel the full brunt of emotion for the first time in our lives… I’m not really surprised Zim is responding by locking them out completely.”

“...Shouldn’t feeling be a good thing?”

“I guess it would feel more like it if this were our choice. Or if the first things we felt weren’t all relatively bad things, yknow?” Skoodge shrugged. “I’m not a mind reader or anything, I just know it’s hard to not let all this sudden stimulation get the better of you. He’s doing it in his own way.”

“...Huh.” Dib stared out the window as they landed on an area of planet that held an awfully familiar landscape.

Dib sat up suddenly, looking surprised and confused. The reaction made Skoodge smile a little. He kinda felt like it was the right thing to do.

“I thought you’d rather be the one to explore this particular area.” He explained, hopping out of the pod and arming up a capsule gun. They were in Dib’s neighborhood, the Membrane house partially intact. “You seemed kinda up in arms about it yesterday. I saw it but...I thought we could maybe get some stuff from here.” 

Dib was awestruck as he gazed up at his childhood home, the roof partly caved in where his Dad’s bedroom used to be. He got out of the pod and stared up at it for a long time before taking a deep breath and moving forward to the front door.

After a while of sifting through damaged belongings, old clothing, abandoned projects from the three of them scattered about like they’d been torn through before, they’d gathered up enough things to call the place officially raided. Could you really call it raided, if it was your own living space?

“Hold on. I wanna check one more place…” Dib said, heading down the stairs into his father’s home lab. There was a damaged console, papers thrown about every which way. It really just looked like a mess to Skoodge, but Dib was looking through things like they had gold in them.

Hours passed where Dib just poured over files and fidgeted with gadgets. Skoodge would occupy himself with reading weird human “science” books, or sometimes ask Dib questions, but most of the time, he let Dib have his time to scour the remainder of his father’s work.

“...Woah.” Dib said, suddenly bringing the irken out of deep contemplation over the reason why the man had done an entire research study into the effects of a rubber duck’s squeaking. “Skoodge, come look at this!”

When he finally got into view of the human’s discovery, he was holding up an aged, weathered briefcase that had a strange version of Membrane Labs logo on it that Skoodge had never seen. There was a hefty lock on it, looking to have some sort of high security key code on it and it looked like it hadn’t seen light in a while with how faded it was.

“What is it?”

“Probably some sort of top secret research. I wonder where he kept the password at…” Dib began to look around for any appropriate hiding spot. It almost was sad, because the odds it was still in the appropriate place were slim.

“Maybe with time we’ll be able to hack it? Zim’s actually pretty good at that kinda thing.” Skoodge suggested.

As Dib was about to respond, the surface of the planet echoed down the sound of a ship landing. They both gawked upwards in silence for a moment.

“...Do you think uh...Zim’s done with the ship?”

Skoodge looked back to Dib, who mirrored his anxious expression. He really hoped that was the case. For their sake.

***

“Well?” Zim cut out the silence with that simple word. Gaz had been just as quiet as he was for this whole interaction. It had been great for getting work done, but awful for the argument he had weighing on his mind.

“What?” Gaz responded from where she was holding a piece of metal in place for him to seal.

“Are you not going to question Zim about his feelings and make a big deal about the things that are happening? Your sibling seems so keen to do it.”

“Since when have I ever done anything similar to my dopey brother?”

“...Fair enough. It just seems odd you are not saying anything about the issue at all."

“Maybe I don’t wanna talk about it. It happened. It sucks. We’re alive. Let’s move on.”

“...Hm. It seems we have similar views of the situation.”

“Yeah? You sure about that?”

“See! You are doing it!”

  
“Dude, I don’t really care if you feel bad about it or whatever. It doesn’t matter how you feel about it. You’re keeping us alive. Why the fuck would I care if you feel bad that these guys who were hunting you blew our planet up?”

“...I don’t know. Why does the Dib care?” Zim was so tired from the tense atmosphere every time Dib talked to him or even entered a room. He was tired of feeling like he needed to say things he didn’t think he could handle saying out loud.

“Cause he cares about every fucking thing you do.” She snorted. “He probably just wants validation that you feel something or whatever.”

“That’s so stupid.” Zim finally said. Of course he felt things? He literally just had his inhibitor removed. Why would he not be feeling things?? Did the Dib not have good hearing?

“Yeah, I know.” Gaz smirked. “So are we about done with this thing?”

Zim sighed and leaned back on his pak legs to admire his work. “Yes, this patch work should do us until we get to a proper repair dock. Leaving after we have had time to rest should be doable.”

The console for transmissions made a loud ringing noise just then, and Gaz hopped over to it.

“Hey losers, we’re done with the ship.”

The screen came up static, and Zim had time to rock back on his pak legs to get a better view of the screen before a flicker of the two of them, a red lights flashing behind them, came into view.

“MAY-- WE--- OWED--T---INCOMING” The broken transmission blared out in between periods of static. Zim could make out Dib glancing out the window and Skoodge trying desperately to keep control of the escape pod. They were being attacked.

“Skoodge, report! What’s happening?!” He scuttled over to the center of the console and looked into the static.

Silence.

“Escape pod, report!” He repeated.

Nothing came.

“Computer, show a visual!” The screen wiped the static clean and a large view of space came up as if it were a window, just in time for the escape pod to come shooting past and around, an Irken ship was following them, it looked relatively new.

“Open the pod gate! Get them inside!”

“We’ve got another message!” Gaz said.

Before he could tell her to answer or not, she had, and the face of a female Irken filled the screen. Her long curled antennae twitched with amusement at her grand entrance, and the violet of her eyes was lit up in the dim light of her vessel.

Zim couldn’t believe it. “Tak?!”


	4. Fugitives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Empire’s new brigrunner captain and her crew seek to destroy Zim and the rest of the crew with him. Little does she know, their high running emotions might be doing s better job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for waiting so long for this chapter. I don’t have a set upload schedule because I do not want this fic to become work, and rather just be a fun thing. That way I know it will always have the same upload quality because I will be interested.
> 
> Special thanks to Vox for helping proof read and bouncing ideas as always!

Tak scowled down from the screen,arms crossed nearly behind her back. She wasn't alone, she had two others there with her. One Zim recognized, another Invader named Larb, the other seemed to be a pilot of some kind he did not know. Though he wasn't sure there were others, judging by the size of Tak's vessel there were more. 

"That's right, Zim. The Tallests are disgusted by your impudence. You and your crew of defectives and….humans…" The word struggled to escape her mouth as if it was going to make her gag. "It would be hilarious if it wasn't so repulsive." She hissed.

"Do you finally have it through your thick skull? The empire views you as a disgrace. A laughing stock. You're nothing but a fool who's joke has run dry. There is nothing about you that was ever worthy of calling itself an invader."

"ENOUGH OF YOUR SLANDER!" Zim waved his hand dramatically, almost as if he was trying to physically bat her words out of his face."If you're here to do something then get to the point! Your stupid… schmoopy… chattering is getting annoying."

"How…DARE you! You stupid, insolent little worm! You think you have any right to talk to me like that?!" Taks voice went up an octave, infuriated that he even thought he had a say. Everything about it rubbed Zim the wrong way. Like the way she saw herself as better jabbed at something in his gut. 

"Mmm. Nah. He's got a point." Gaz's voice made zim turn his head, startled more by the agreement than the fact that she had spoken. "You're coming off as a real stuck up bitch, actually."

Tak bared her teeth and made a soft growling noise at the girl's disrespect. The material on her gloved hand squeaked as her fist clenched. Zim watched her expression as it knotted up into a frustrated mess.

She gave a deep sigh. "Okay. OKAY! Fine. Here's what we're going to do. This is a warning." She straightened herself and regained her posture of looking down on them, causing some sort of bitterness to come up into Zim he didn’t recognize.

“The Tallests only want to kill Zim.”

The demands began just as Dib and Skoodge stumbled into the room. Zim’s eyes glanced at them both over as he listened. A few small injuries, nothing untreatable or life threatening. They looked very disheveled though. It gave him a twinge of anger.

“If you filthy vermin are smarter than you look, you will give him up to us, and go on your way. This is your only chance.”

The room was silent for a moment. A moment that felt like eternity to Zim. Perhaps because the offer sent his mind racing with emotions he usually didn’t have to sift through.

They can’t do that, she’ll betray them... but the Tallests want to see Zim! He shouldn’t be disrespectful. He should do what he’s told. The tallests love him! He knows they do. He loves them too, so much. He’s sure that…

What? What was he sure of? Just until this morning he was sure they would never try to kill him for real. Even though they have before… Multiple times.

No, no that can’t be right. Those were all jokes and crazy misunderstandings, just like now! Haha, those guys, always messing around.

It wasn’t very funny though. Being on trial, having them order him to do horrible painful things to test some weird machine, almost dying, all of that was horrible and bad. It wasn’t good. It felt like torture.

That’s silly. The Tallest just know he is capable and can handle anything they throw at him. It’s just endearment for their favorite Invader. He should be grateful they want to see him again. Maybe he can get a new mission on a better planet that will serve them better!

Right, the earth. The earth is gone. That was all his fault. He did that. They caused all this suffering to spite him. How could they do that! They’re supposed to love Zim.

It must be because they...they missed Zim so much! Of course that’s why. His mission was over if the earth was gone! He needed to get back to them. Why did he not want to go? How could he ever not want to see his amazing leaders? What was wrong with him?

Why was he feeling sick just thinking about it?

The world melted back into stereo sound, and Zim realized that it hadn’t been silent at all. Dib and Skoodge were both protesting the demands quite loudly.

“I didn’t come all the way out here to just let you ‘have’ him, Tak! You’ve gotta be nuts!” Dib snapped.

“Be reasonable--”

“NO! You be reasonable! You think the Tallests are using you because they like you now? Just. All of a sudden? They knew you wanted to hurt Zim! Once they’re done with this, they’ll just--”

“I’ll go.”

That’s when real silence fell. Skoodge was dumbstruck by the interruption. Not just because of how out of character it was for Zim to be so selfless, but because the tone of voice he used was almost as if someone had taken him over.

Zim’s expression was smiling, but the look in his eyes was almost empty. “I’d be happy to go and clear this whole mess up. They’d never want to kill me. I’m their most trusted Invader, of course. It must be some kind of misunderstanding.”

“Zim, are you crazy?!” Dib stammered, but Zim didn’t look at him. “She’s just going to kill us all after she gets you anyway! This is stupid!” He persisted.

“I know what I’m doing, human.” Zim still refused to look in their direction, his face locked on to Tak. “The Tallests will listen, they love Zim.”

“Zim, please. This isn’t a good idea. The Tallests aren’t going to listen to you!” Skoodge pleaded, a soft panic in his voice.

Zim’s eye twitched and his smile faltered, but he didn’t look at skoodge. “Don’t...Listen to them. Zim will go with you. He can make this better. I promise.”

Tak cackled at their squabbling. “You miserable fool. I thought it would be fun to see your pitiful little team turn on you the second they got a chance, but you’re really willing to die for them?”

“Nonsense. Zim will not be dying. It’s pointless to fight the armada. They just miss their favorite Invader. Everything will be fine. Just. Let me go with you. You’ll see.” His tone grew more and more whitered and desperate, in his head he felt like screaming.

“Fine, it’s a deal then.” Tak stated. “Climb aboard, Zim, Your final trial awaits you.”

Before she could make another move, a loud blast fired from the ship and hit her vessel, and the crew was thrown about, barely able to hang on as the ship spun. Tak shrieked in rage as she pulled herself to her chair again, glaring down towards the control panel, where Gaz was playing with the controls.

Zim felt the haze shaking loose from his head. What was he doing?? Why would he do that?? The Tallests just tried to kill him-- but they love him… why?? He should be desperate for the chance to rejoin the empire even if it meant death. Why did that make him feel so sick???

Why was that human piloting his ship??

“Oops.” She replied sarcastically, playing with the controls some more and getting ready to fire again.

“You miserable little. Rrrgh!!” She got to her own controls. “Annihilate them!”

Gaz was in her element. Complex controls, intense heavy fire-- Everything her games had somehow always applied to Irken tech. It was convenient in that it made her a natural at piloting the things, despite the rest of the crew stumbling around the control room.

Zim was jerked out of his haze when he was forced to stumble his way over to behind the control chair and cling to it. His brain rushing on panic and relief all at once. He had to roll with this option now.

“What are you doing?!” Zim screeched. “Zim had this situation under control!” He definitely hadn’t. He went full nuclear suicidal on them and started being all gushy and sacrificial. He was being dumb. Submitting to this loser who was getting her butt whooped by a person who just picked up the ship on the fly two days ago was not ‘having it under control’.

Gaz however, had everything under control. They had barely landed a shot on them, and the other ship was suffering.

“WARNING!” A computerized voice jolted her out of the zone. “THE SHIP’S HULL HAS INSUFFICIENT STABILITY FOR THIS MUCH STRESS. IF THIS CONTINUES YOU’LL ALL END UP LIKE THE LAST CREW.” 

Tak cackled over the intercom. “Foolish girl, don’t you know your own limits? I’ll be happy to show you what such a mistake will cost you.”

Zim clung to the back of her chair and screeched. “I was TRYING to tell you! The ship can’t handle this! We need to get out of here!”

Gaz’s mind was already abuzz with looking for a solution. Usually in games that fit these controls there was a way to make a quick getaway. She just had to find it. Lasers, lasers, snacks, more lasers-- A… scary fast drive? “Here we go.”

Zim seemed to pick up on what she was doing. “Wait--”

Before he could warn her, the drive was activated and Zim lost his grip, flying into the back wall and knocking himself unconcious.

***

Numbers of code ran across a screen in horrifying detail. Things Zim had never seen but somehow understood perfectly well. The coding seemed to be the template for the PAK system

It showed information noting what was and wasn’t pertinent to maintain, a code that allowed for prolonged life without food or sleep… and… thought suppressors… memory rebooting… loyalty encoding… emotional inhibition. 

He felt strange reading all of this. Like he was watching an earth horror movie, but it was real. Like somehow things were different normally, and this was terrible new information that was creeping up on him. It made him feel sick.

Zim’s mouth opens without him thinking for it to, and a voice comes out, a slightly different one to his. “We have to stop this before it’s too late.”

When his eyes drag away from the screen they fall on an Irken he doesn’t recognize that is wearing thick crimson goggles and antiquated engineer’s garb. His face looks just as horrified as he was, and a hand grips his arm.

Zim stands, and suddenly everything around him fades into blackness. He suddenly feels heavy, like he’s surrounded by thick smog. Lost in the silence and emptiness. He tries to move but it’s like he’s even suffocated too much to run. Nothing around him, but the air seems to be echoing and whispering words he barely registers, like he’s hearing every memory and thought he’s ever had all at once on repeat.

He struggles against the fog, shrieking and coughing when he loses his breath. Desperate for escape, he’s left flailing there, helplessly.

“Zim.”

His eyes open, and a small white cloud floats above, lighting up a path between the clouds of darkness.

“Zim!” It echoes again. That’s the Dib’s voice.

It may not be the most amazing thing to have to cling to, but if it got him out of here, Zim would cling to anything. He pushes towards it.

“Zim….Zim...ZIM!!!!” Suddenly Zim sits up with a loud gasp and realizes he’s been flailing and trying to claw his way out of Dib’s hold. “Jeesh, finally, you were almost clawing my eyes out.”

Zim takes a moment to get his bearings, looking around the room to see he was still in the control room. “Eh? What happened?”

“Gaz took the Scary Fast Drive and now we’re somewhere in the Laverna Sector.” Skoodge explained. “Good news is Taking can’t track a scary fast jump like that, bad news is that we need to find a place to do real repairs before she finds where we are.”

“I know of such a place.” Zim said, pushing himself to his feet. He felt dizzy, but when Dib tried to steady him, he batted the hand away. “With a little maintenance we should be able to make the flight there.”

***  
A gloved fist slammed against the console, rattling the wires and only mildly relieving the frustration Tak felt. Her tiny grunt of dissatisfaction and the grip she held on the consoles edge was enough to prompt Larb to move closer. 

“The scary-fast drive on that ship was unfortunately functional, they’ll be out of range of any tracking system for a while now.” He stated, seemingly calm.

“Thank you, Larb, I am aware of how a Scary-Fast drive functions!” She forced out as calmly as she could, which wasn't very effective. Tak’s eye twitched. The Tallests would be displeased that they had lost them. She had been so close to catching them swiftly and easily, and here she was with a minimally damaged ship and a bunch of pointless rubble.

“I’m sure.” He was such a soft spoken soldier, weird for someone of his rank. “That being said, they’re probably off to find some illegal ship repair facilities. I believe their next destination will not require any tracking.”

Tak’s grip relaxed. Of course. “Cyberflox.”

“Leave it to vermin to run to the filth.” The smugness in his voice was tangible. Smirking he placed a hand on her shoulder. “Shall we?”

A grin spread across Tak’s face. “Let’s go. Set the course!” Those worthless freaks were good as dead.

***

Dib had been worn out after nearly being scratched to hell and running for his life, so he’d taken a bit of time to be alone and ended up falling asleep in his own room. Skoodge and Gaz had decided to stay up, mostly because Gaz wanted to bully him into teaching her more controls. Zim went straight to maintaining the damages so they could make the rest of the flight to Cyberflox, going back to his uncanny silent mood.

When Dib woke up, Skoodge and Gaz had checked out for the night, if it even was night. He didn’t know, honestly. Zim however, was still up.

Aside from the brief moment of being knocked unconscious, Zim hadn’t slept at all. Dib usually wouldn’t be worried about that, but he kept remembering how Skoodge had mentioned they would need sleep without the Inhibitor.

With not sleeping, not really eating, and the way he had acted before… Dib was worried. Not because he cared or anything...but like…Zim was basically the one who knew how things worked on this ship. Dib needed him.

They. They needed him.

Anyway! Dib was worried. Not about Zim. Well, yes about Zim, but not like that. He was worried that Zim’s weird attitude was going to get them all killed.That’s what this was. Nothing else.

Dib walked into the room and Zim was fussing over a screen with blueprints of the ship. He was squinting at them, his face close to the screen. The tiny alien blinked his eyes so slowly Dib thought he might have to run up beside him to catch him from falling asleep.

“Jeesh, you look like you’re going to fall over.” Dib’s voice startled Zim, causing him to jerk up from the schematics and give a few fast, fluttering blinks.

He huffed indignantly. “Do not be ridiculous, Dib-smelly. I am fine!” He said, rocking back on his feet a bit and having to jerk forward to avoid toppling backwards.

Dib just glared at him. He wasn’t buying Zim’s bullshit for one second. “Zim, this is exactly why you need to sleep! You’re barely thinking straight. You nearly let us all get killed earlier, and you can barely stand up right now!”

Zim’s face twisted up into a scowl. “What do you know? Nothing! Zim is in peak condition!” He protested, waving away the notion that he could possibly be tired. The swing of his arm was a bit too hard and he moved a bit too weirdly along with it. Dib let out a sigh.

“Why are you acting like this?! First you want revenge for the Earth being exploded, then suddenly you don’t care and wanna beg your leaders to take you back?! You won’t get any rest. You won’t talk to anyone.” Dib crossed his arms tightly around himself. “The least you could do is try to ACTlike you give a shit about anything!”

Zim’s expression flatlined as Dib spoke. The more he talked the more his eyes seemed to widen. Dib couldn’t really read what he was thinking, and he hadn’t been trying really hard until he stopped ranting. Zim stared at him for a good ten seconds before it looked like anything processed.

Then his expression warped in a way Dib had never really seen before. Angry, but not just angry. He seemed outraged, and hurt, and disgusted.

“You think that is what this is?” Zim’s voice held a weird, broken tone behind it. Dib almost felt the need to cower at the sound of it. “Zim does not care about losing his mission. He does not CARE that all of these things keep happening that he cannot STOP. Does not care that he is an EXILE that has to RUN AND HIDE.”

“Yes, mhm, of course, that is what Zim is doing.” He had that unsettling grin that Dib saw hours ago. “You… STUPID IGNORANT HUMAN WORM!!!”

Dib was growing increasingly unnerved by the way Zim was acting. He inched backwards.

“Everything Zim is doing is because he CARES WAY TOO MUCH!!!” The blueprint screen was tossed aside dramatically as Zim yelled. “I cannot STOP caring and it is TERRIBLE! NOTHING WILL SILENCE LONG ENOUGH FOR ZIM!”

“Are you really so stupid...that you think that I feel NOTHING after removing the inhibitor? That I can simply truly never care that everything Zim touches--” Zim stopped himself, suddenly becoming hyper aware of his outburst. The next few words could be inferred, and Dib felt a pang of guilt for having put him on blast for wanting some privacy with it.

“Zim...I--” Dib started to move forward to try and help Zim calm down, but the alien pushed past him, face covered in his hands.

Dib decided that maybe he would let Zim have some space.

***  
Skoodge was awakened by the sound of familiar footsteps. For a second, his brain was fogged and it felt like he was in the barracks and Zim had just rushed in after being punished. The rush back to reality made the urgency of the situation increase. Something had happened.

He took his time gathering himself from the daze if sleepiness, and followed the sound of Zim's tiny, soft sniveling. Zim didn't much like to make a big show of being vulnerable, and Skoodge was used to these fits being very quiet and solitary.

The noise muted when Skoodge knocked on the door softly. "Zim?" He called out, trying not to sound as if he was worried. If he let on that he was in any way pitying his comrade, Zim would lash out and pull away.

Skoodge decided to open the door when he got no answer. "Having trouble sleeping too?" He offered.

Zim was curled up on top of the human bed that Gaz had provided for him. His knees hugged to his chest as he sat there, glowering over the tops of his kneecaps. It was clear on his face that he'd been crying. Skoodge pretended not to notice.

"Sleep is weird, huh?" Skoodge continued. Zim just returned with more silence between involuntary snubbing. Oh, Skoodge couldn't let that keep up too long.

"Can we uh...talk for a bit?" He said, scooting closer and taking a seat on the bed. Zim glared at him. "....Okay. I'll talk then."

"...This inhibitor stuff is hard. I get scared more easily. I worry more. Seeing you breaking down like you were over the Tallests was scary…" He confessed. "I know you can take care of yourself, but the idea of losing you just like that was frightening."

"Why?" Skoodge perked his antennae in Zim's direction when he finally spoke.

"Why would you be scared to lose Zim? I...You are here because of Zim." He refused to look Skoodge in the eye, but the expression still made his spooch squirm. "If you hadn't interfered and just left..."

"You seriously think I'd just leave you??" Skoodge blurted out. He didn't mean for it to come out so blatantly. It was a little embarrassing.

He cleared his throat. "Uh...Zim. I didn't come to live with you just because I had nothing to do. I knew what I was getting myself into when I came to that planet. I don't regret doing it at all."

"...You don't?" Zim opened his posture for the first time since Skoodge had entered the room. Skoodge shook his head.

"You don't have to worry about me. Nothing that happened was something I wasn't willing to do anyway." He added a soft smile to that.

Zim scrubbed at his face and smiled weakly. "...Good. I'd have to throw you out the airlock if you said otherwise." The joke made Skoodge chuckle.

Just then, the door to Zim's room slid open and Dib, who had been carefully trying to press and ear to the door, fell onto his face with a comically loud thud. The two of them stared at him in shock for a second before the boy got up and brushed himself off awkwardly.

"Hey uh wow! Hi...Skoodge and Zim. I uh...I didn't mean to interrupt anything but uh...Listen. I uh…" He stammered, face growing red from embarrassment.

"What do you want Dib?" Zim snapped.

Dib paused, looking at Zim, wide eyed. "....I...I'm...sorry for jumping down your throat like that...I was just...frustrated that I couldn't figure out what was wrong with you and I...I really don't know why I even thought it was my business but you were acting so WEIRD and you seemed like you were near passing out so I had to say SOMETHING and--"

"Dib."

"I know you're probably still mad at me and I get that I just wanted you to know I only yelled because I was freaked out and I wasn't really mad as much as I was worried. About y’know. How much sleep you need to function. Because um. You functioning effects me too and--"

"Dib…"

"I guess I was also worried because you're the whole reason I'm alive right now and I feel like if you got sick or died right after I would--"

"DIB STINK WILL PLEASE JUST YOU SHUT UP?!?" Zim finally snapped. The human fell silent as Zim let out a sigh. "It is FINE, okay? Just...Stop talking about it."

"Oh...Okay." Dib looked around awkwardly.

After a long moment of silence, Skoodge spoke up. "You wanna join us for a bit? We were just talking and stuff."

"Sure yeah...I'd like that."

The three of them sat there and Skoodge laughed as Zim and Dib bickered in their usual light hearted way. They talked about plans for the next few days, old soldier stories Dib was fascinated by, and eventually fell asleep in a weird, awkward pile on Zim's bed.


End file.
